


Visiting Hours

by orphan_account



Category: Princess Tutu
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Non-Canonical, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-27
Updated: 2013-02-27
Packaged: 2017-12-03 18:50:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/701488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A non-canonical bit of fluff, based on a simple question: what if Ahiru had visited Fakir while he was recuperating from the events of Swan Lake?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Visiting Hours

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a conversation in the comments of Mark Watches Princess Tutu, for his review of The Raven; someone new to the show wondered about it, and I decided to run with it in fic.

Mytho hovered by the door, his hand on the knob as he held it just barely ajar. “Fakir. You’re sure you’re fine by yourself?”

Fakir didn’t even bother to open his eyes. “How many times have I told you? Just go ahead and go to class. I don’t need you to babysit me.”

“All right. Get some rest, though.” He opened the door the rest of the way and moved to leave, but paused and stared back over his shoulder with what might have been a curious frown creasing his face. “Hmmm?”

“What is it?”

“… Nothing, I guess.” Mytho shrugged. “See you later, Fakir.”

“Hmph.” Fakir waited until the door had shut and the sound of Mytho’s footsteps had disappeared down the hall before speaking again. “… I know you’re here.”

“… quack.” Ahiru waddled out from underneath the bed with a folded piece of paper clutched in her beak, wearing the closest thing to a guilty expression that a duck could manage. The corners of Fakir’s mouth twitched and, for a moment, she thought he was going to smile, but it passed so suddenly that she wasn’t sure what she had actually seen, in the end. He was half-sitting, most of his back against the headboard of his bed; his hair had come loose at some point, and he hadn’t bothered to retie it yet. He still had bandages wrapped around his arms, and doubtlessly more where she couldn’t see, but he looked much better than he had the last time she’d seen him, when she and Mytho had helped him back here the night he’d sustained those wounds.

“What are you doing here?” The familiar pendant was hanging around her neck as usual, and he found himself wondering for a moment where she’d hidden her clothes (hopefully in a safe place) before sternly ordering himself not to dwell on that, of all things.

“Quack!” She flapped her little wings, and propelled herself upwards just high enough to land on his bed. She carefully laid the piece of paper on his stomach, then settled herself in atop the rumpled sheets and watched him, waiting. He looked back at her for a moment, then picked up the paper and unfolded it. Her handwriting was as elegant as he’d figured it would be - that is to say, not at all. It was legible at least, though. Barely.

_Fakir! I can’t come by as my usual self to see you, so I’m visiting as a duck! I haven’t seen you in school since that night, so I wanted to be sure you were okay. How are you feeling? I hope you’re doing better!_

She was… worried about him? Somehow the thought made him feel oddly warm. Almost uncomfortably so. He looked up from the scrap of paper and opened his mouth to speak, but then another thought occurred to him as his eyes met hers. “Did you skip class to come here?”

“Quaaaack.” She nodded and lowered her head, looking guilty again. She knew she was supposed to be in class, but she just had to see him and make sure he was all right. She’d been so worried about him ever since that night, especially when he hadn’t shown up in school for the past few days.

“Idiot.” But there was no sting in the word, and he reached out a hand to ruffle the soft feathers on top of her head. “Aren’t you concerned about getting in trouble?”

“Quack! Qua-quack, quack…”

He had no idea what that meant, but could guess that it roughly translated to something like “Not as much as I was concerned about you!”, or thereabouts. Something in that general area, at least. He felt his face grow warm again. “You - you should be, though. You’re way too young to get married, for one thing.” He was more than familiar with their… _eccentric_ teacher’s favorite threat to the female students by now.

“Quuuaaaaaaaack!” Ahiru shuddered in revulsion at the very thought, and was surprised to hear Fakir chuckle. She looked up to see him smiling gently at her, much as he had the day he’d given her bread without knowing who she was, and her heart fluttered for a moment.

“Anyway, don’t come by again,” he continued. “I’m fine. I’ll probably be back in a few more days. Just focus on your classes and don’t do any more useless things like this.”

“Quaaaaaack! Quack quack, quack!” She glared up at him, earning her a brief look of bewilderment. _Useless?_ she wanted to yell at him. He’d nearly _died_ and she’d been so _scared_ , and she just wanted to be sure he was recovering all right, and he… he had the nerve to say _that?_ To say her feathers were ruffled would be an understatement. “Quaaack…”

Fortunately, it didn’t take him long to figure out an approximation of what she was trying to say: it was probably an admonishment that she couldn’t help worrying, and not to be so rude about it and call it useless. Something like that, anyway. He felt a twinge of guilt, remembering how she’d bandaged his wounds for him that one time, not to mention the look of relief on her face when he’d woken up by the fire to find her and Mytho kneeling at his side. No, of course she couldn’t help it. For whatever reason, she _did_ care about him, and it was only natural she’d be concerned after what had happened back there at the underground lake. “… Sorry. For worrying you. And…” He swallowed. “Thank you… for coming by.” Even his _ears_ felt hot now. It was mortifying.

“Quack.” Good. That was more like it.

Fakir had never imagined that a duck could look _smug_ , but somehow Ahiru was pulling it off. The flush in his cheeks deepened. “Wh - what’s that look for? Don’t - don’t think that - that I - it doesn’t mean -“

“Quack?” She gave him a quizzical look now, genuinely curious as to what he was getting so flustered about. He seemed to get embarrassed so easily at times, something she never would have expected back when they first met. Then again, she’d learned a lot of surprising things about him since then, this was just one more.

“… Never mind.” He shook his head, his blush fading only slightly. “Come on, I’ll let you out.” He leaned forward and picked her up, cradling her close to himself with one arm as he moved the sheets aside so that he could get out of bed. Held up against him as she was, she missed his slight wince as he rose and walked towards the door. “You should at least try to make it to the rest of your classes.”

“Quack…” She almost felt disappointed to be leaving already, though she didn’t know why she should feel that way. She knew he was right, but… no, what was she thinking? She’d done what she’d come by to do, why did she want to linger? It wasn’t as if they could have a proper conversation, really. Silly.

For his part, he didn’t let himself think about whether that had sounded like a disappointed quack or not. He opened the door and knelt on the floor to set her down. He hesitated for a moment before letting her go, and spoke quietly. “Don’t get caught.”

“Quack!” She nuzzled her head against the back of his unbandaged hand, and then waddled off down the hall. He smiled softly, and waited until she had disappeared around the corner before closing the door.


End file.
